The Little Church of the West

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View of the church from the west side, 2007

The Little Church of the West is a wedding chapel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise , Nevada . Built in 1942 from pine and California redwood , the structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1992 . The building materials were chosen so that they are reminiscent of a typical church in a pioneer town in the Wild West .

description

The Little Church of the West is a structure on the south side of Las Vegas Boulevard and is surrounded by lawns and trees. A sign on a post in the style appropriate to the building indicates the type of business that is carried out here. The building has a gable roof that is unique in Las Vegas. At the time of its entry on the National Register, there was only one other stand-alone facility of its kind on the Strip other than Little Church.

The structure is not quite 13 m long and almost 6 m wide. The outside consists mainly of pine wood, the inside is almost entirely made of redwood. The beams that support the roof are visible on the ceiling and not clad. The ten windows of the building, all of which are the same size, have burglar bars. The main entrance faces the strip and consists of a covered double door. Above it sits a three-leaf window for decorative purposes; it measures around 150 cm in width and 180 cm in height. The chapel also has a side door with a similar but smaller window above it.

Inside there is a main room, an alcove serves the employees here. An altar , also made of redwood, is on the east wall. The sanctuary is 4.3 m long and 2.5 m deep. On the right side of the entrance is an ancient organ that was not created with the building but was brought here from elsewhere to support the visitor's impression. In the back of the building there is a working Hammond organ. Five rows of pews stand on either side of the center aisle.

history

The Little Church of the West opened in 1942 on what would later become world famous as "The Strip". The chapel was originally designed and then built by William J. Moore Jr. as part of the Last Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. The growing importance of the wedding industry to Las Vegas made the location on the Strip attractive as it was the gateway to the city from California. The building was the first to be built specifically for the purpose of holding weddings. Other pre-existing wedding chapels were housed in pre-existing buildings that were being converted.

Moore had visited numerous mining towns in Nevada and California and took photos before the construction, as he wanted to reflect the past of Las Vegas as a mining town with the construction. He finally decided to build a replica of a church in northern California, but the location has not been recorded. With the authentic looking replica of a church in the western United States, the "Little Church of the West" in Las Vegas became unique.

As early as 1900, Nevada had relatively liberal regulations for conducting a divorce . Between 1910 and 1931, the period in which someone had to live in Nevada to get a divorce was shortened and extended several times. A six-week period was decided in 1931. This started the rise of Reno and Las Vegas as a divorce haven. The number of weddings in Clark County consistently exceeded the number of divorces; In 1932 3,989 divorces were settled and 7,088 marriages were concluded.

The process of getting married was also easier in Nevada than in California. No medical tests were required here, and there was no waiting period, as was introduced on the west coast to avoid weddings decided while intoxicated. The only restrictions were on the age of those willing to get married. Women had to be at least 16 years old and men 18, with parental consent required if the woman had not reached the age of 18 or the man was not yet 21 years old.

In addition to gambling , divorces and marriages became the most important pillars on which tourism in Las Vegas rested. The city's Chamber of Commerce cultivated the somewhat wicked image through advertising and press releases. Celebrity weddings increased this effect as they were reported nationwide.

The structure was moved from the north side of the hotel to the south side on June 9, 1954. When the church had to make way for the Fashion Show Mall in 1979 , it was moved to the Hacienda grounds a little further south on the Strip. The integrity of the building was retained because it was loaded as a whole on heavy goods vehicles and brought to the new location and the locations do not differ in character.

The chapel has never been used for anything other than holding weddings since it opened. It is significant not only because its appearance is unique in the city, but also because it has been with Las Vegas for most of the time when Nevada's straightforward marriage formalities favor a major industry.

The hacienda was closed in 1996 and subsequently blown up, after which the building was relocated for the third time. It is now on the eastern side of the Las Vegas Strip south of Mandalay Bay and not far from the well-known “ Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas ” sign .

Film history

The film wedding of Elvis Presley and Ann-Margret in Viva Las Vegas (1964) was shot in the Little Church of the West.

Celebrity weddings

Betty Grable and Harry James were the first celebrity couple to say `` I do '' in church in 1943. Other celebrities who got married here include:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Susan E. Ramey: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form ( English , PDF; 820 kB) National Park Service . April 1992. Retrieved May 21, 2009.

Coordinates: 36 ° 5 ′ 10 ″  N , 115 ° 10 ′ 20 ″  W.